By Marina Green

As researchers assess the damaged lungs the novel coronavirus has left in its wake, troubling images emerge.

Since its arrival, the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been enveloped in mystery. By exploiting vulnerabilities to invade the human body and adapting through various mutations, its stealthy nature allows the virus to obscure the extent of the harm it causes.

A recent study by researchers at Emory AI.Health, published in the Journal of Computers in Medicine and Biology, revealed the shapeshifting power of COVID-19 to distort the very architecture of human lungs, depending on the severity of the COVID case the patient experienced.

The Emory group collaborated with an international team of researchers from North America, Europe, and Asia on the work.

Much like ancient characters from Greek mythology, who manifested a variety of shapeshifting powers, a frightening modern-day version skulks within the virus that causes COVID-19.

When the Emory researchers used AI to examine CT scans from more than 3,400 patients from multiple facilities, they saw the distortion that the virus caused in human lungs. The patients studied were divided into three categories:  healthy, mild COVID-19 cases, and those with severe COVID-19 who were placed on ventilators.

Those who experienced severe COVID-19 had significant deformities on the surface of their lungs, especially on the mediastinal and basal surfaces, the researchers wrote.

Such lung deformations are “likely to impair lung function – ultimately affecting human health and quality of life, and potentially increasing overall mortality,” the study authors wrote.

If experts are to understand COVID’s long-term impacts, studying these changes in lung structure will be key.

“COVID-19 can cause serious complications such as pneumonia, severe lung damage, and blood infections, which can lead to lasting lung problems like scarring and chronic breathing issues,” said Amogh Hiremath, AI scientist at Picture Health, in Pittsburgh, and first author of the study.

“While some people recover fully, others may suffer permanent lung damage,” he added. “Understanding how COVID-19 affects the lungs during its early onset can help us better understand and treat the disease.”

AI helped the researchers create a detailed map of lung deformations, identifying specific areas of damage using 3D imaging to highlight the extent of harm caused by a severe case of the virus.

COVID-19 now joins a host of other diseases that the Mayo Clinic and other medical websites say can cause the lungs to become deformed. That list already included such disease as:

• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)
• Pulmonary Fibrosis
• Cystic Fibrosis
• Sarcoidosis
• Tuberculosis (TB)
• Lung cancer
• Pneumoconiosis
• Bronchiectasis

The Emory researchers did not address the problem of long COVID and its implications on the lungs. They recommended that future studies explore the role of lung shape differences among COVID-19 patients as a biomarker in the context of long COVID.

Surfers and Chess Players has followed research on COVID closely. We recently interviewed a 69-year-old victim of long-COVID, who had previously suffered two near-fatal pulmonary embolisms. COVID-19 relegated him to using a cane, but through sheer determination, he has walked, biked and exercised his way back to health. Still, there are plenty of patients not so fortunate, who continue to struggle with the effects of long COVID.

About 16 million people in the U.S. have long COVID and as many as a fourth of them are disabled by it, according to federal estimates. Long COVID can manifest itself with 200 different symptoms.  Yet, even though $1 billion has been spent by the federal government researching the virus, one word sums up the feelings of researchers and patients who are hoping for a cure – frustration.